17 March 2025
The Annecy International Animation Film Festival, scheduled from June 8 to 14, 2025, has announced the inclusion of two Czech short films, 9 Million Colours and Atomik Tour, in the official short film competition program. In addition, Better Man, a short animated film by Eliška Jirásková, is part of the Graduation Films competition program.
9 Million Colours, directed by Bára Anna Stejskalová (Love Is Just a Death Away) and produced by Jakub Košťál of Bionaut, combines puppets and 3D animation to take viewers under the sea. The narrative centers on Fran, a mantis shrimp who perceives the ocean as a vibrant paradise, and Milva, an eyeless deep-sea fish focused on survival. The project was developed through the prestigious Animation Sans Frontières workshop and has been showcased at events such as the Animarkt Pitching Forum—where it secured funding from the Polish studio CeTa—CEE Animation Forum, Cartoon Springboard, Cartoon Forum, and Czech Joy.
Atomik Tour by French animator Bruno Collet, known for his Oscar-nominated work Memorable, is a co-production between France and the Czech Republic, produced by Alena Vandasová and Martin Vandas of MAUR film on the Czech side. This stop-motion animated short film explores the phenomenon of dark tourism, focusing on a young YouTuber who, while filming in the irradiated zone of Chernobyl, inadvertently awakens the ghosts of the 1986 nuclear disaster victims.
Both films received support from the Czech Audiovisual Fund.
In addition, Better Man, a short anidoc by Eliška Jirásková, produced by Tomáš Šimon of FAMU, is part of the Graduation Films competition program. Better Man explores the phenomenon of bodybuilding and examines the relationship fitness-oriented men have with their own bodies. Through interviews inspired by journalistic techniques, the film presents the stories of three men who use exercise as a way to cope with inner traumas that have often resulted in low self-esteem.
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